Honest Stories From the Heart of a Confused, Anxiety-Ridden Catholic

Blessings and Beauty: Day 32

Today I think support is beautiful. My little sister had a piano competition today, and I tagged along for moral support. She is musically talented, and I am her cheerleader (and coordinator most of the time as well). So today while I sat outside the room listening to her play the pieces of music she has practiced for months, I couldn’t help but pray. I had been praying all day for her, but especially while she was in the peak of her performance. I was thinking about how nervous she was before we arrived. I was hopeful that despite the snag in planning, she would still be calm and collected. I don’t want to keep you in suspense, she ended up doing great! I am very proud of her. Plus, now she is back to playing a variety of music on the piano and not the same three songs over and over again. Everyone is happy.

I love to support people. I don’t know why that is, it actually causes me a lot of stress, but I still love it. I like to give them pep talks and advice for calming the nerves. I especially enjoy congratulating them after their big moment. I am good at finding the optimistic side of things if they don’t feel good about their performance. This is all very strange because I am usually an introverted pessimist with high anxiety. That may be who I am, but it all flies away when I am supporting people. I think it is beautiful. I love who I am and how my traits make up such a deep personhood, but I also love that when I am in a supportive element, I become someone totally different. I love that supporting someone is so fulfilling on my side, and I can see very obvious results for the person I am supporting. I helped my sister find the rooms she was supposed to be in and gave her a pep talk before she walked into each one. I took her mind off the task at hand with light-hearted talk about our outfits. I know my sister well enough to know exactly what to say to make her feel better. I am the best candidate for recovery when our parents embarrass her. I know the exact second her mood changes from angry to furious. I know her and I love being able to support her so completely.

I have a few people that can do this for me as well. As I said, I’m an introvert. I deal with things better alone than when surrounded by people. So I consider the support from other people to be the support of knowing to leave me alone. I think all of this is beautiful because it is gorgeous that people can know this information about each other. They let it change how they act and how they speak. God has given us the gift of being able to provide that help to each other with the way that we communicate. I love it and I find it so beautiful that God has created us to be so interconnected. Of course, he is the ultimate support. He knows us all perfectly and we can speak to him in such confidence. Support is gorgeous.